Most Americans, about seven out of 10, think that the country is currently “on the wrong track,” with more than half disapproving of President Joe Biden’s job performance in the latest poll from NBC News.
The poll, which was released on Monday, shows that 71% of Americans think the country is going in the wrong direction, an increase of 8 percentage points since August.
Republicans are virtually unanimous on this issue, with 93% saying the country is on the wrong track.
Independents tend to agree at 70%, while most Democrats disagree, with only 48% saying that the country is heading in the wrong direction.
“When you see a wrong track of 71 percent, it is a flashing red light,” said GOP pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies. “These folks are telling us that this is not going well.”
The survey also shows that over 50% of Americans disapprove of Biden for the first time in an NBC poll, with 42% approving. His last job approval rating in an August poll, with 49% approval and 48% disapproval, showed a drop from NBC’s previous poll taken in April, which showed 53% approval and 39% disapproval.
“Democrats face a country whose opinion of President Biden has turned sharply to the negative since April,” said Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates, a Democratic pollster who conducted the survey alongside McInturff, in a statement released with the results of the survey by NBC.
“The promise of the Biden presidency — knowledge, competence and stability in tough times — have all been called into question,” Horwitt added.
“What people voted for was stability and calm," said Peter Hart, another Democratic pollster. "And what they got was instability and chaos.”
NBC notes that according to historical data from Gallup, Biden’s rating is lower than almost any other modern president’s during this time in a first time, apart from former President Donald Trump, who had an average job approval rating of 37% in the fall after his election.
Biden’s approval ratings when it comes to the Covid-19 pandemic and the economy have also fallen. 51% approve of Biden’s COVID-19 response, compared to 47% who disapprove. In August, 53% approved and in April, 69% approved. On the economy, Biden’s approval rating in October stands at 40%, compared to 47% approval in August and 52% approval in April.
NBC polled 1,000 adults from October 23-26, 2021 with 820 registered voters, and a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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